This invention relates generally to catheters and, more particularly, to a cardiovascular catheter having a unique tip manipulation feature for enabling the tip of the catheter to be directed in the desired direction to facilitate catheterization.
This invention is especially (albeit not exclusively) suited for use with balloon catheters, which are commonly used in cardiovascular catheterization. While various techniques have been used in an effort to manipulate a catheter to control the direction of tip movement during catheterization, such efforts have proven generally less than satisfactory. As a result, proper cardiovascular catheterization with only minimal stress to the patient is very difficult to accomplish, especially in cases involving unusual or abnormal origin and positions of the great vessels associated with cardiac dilatation, abnormal rotations, and congenital cardiac malformations.